More Magazine Contacts

I'm on a tear. Having written that one e-mail to the editor in California, I have gotten my act together to make more contacts. The embarrassing thing here is that these "contacts" are, like, my friends. I mean, it's inexcusable that I haven't mentioned to them before now that I want to write for them.

Of course, one reason I have motivated to do all of this is because it was one of my homework assignments from the last writing group meeting -- so that's a material bonus of this new writing group right there.

So, the editor in California on the big, new physics magazine wrote back. He was very nice and said he knew who I was and that he was hoping to have a budget for freelancers set up in the next few months -- he couldn't hire on outside help at the moment but I should write back in a bit. Good, positive feedback, even though not any immediate writing assignments.

But THEN, I also followed up on a note that was mailed out to a listserv I'm on about a need for writers for a watercraft magazine. The note was to a general DC audience, but it happened to have been sent by a friend. It also had the words "Freelancers willing to ride personal watercraft for assignments are especially desirable." Am I willing to be paid to go out on the water? Um, YES. So I sent her some clips and my CV, and she made it sound like we'd be a good match, so that's exciting. It's also a bit of a start on every freelancer's dream to become a travel writer.

Next, I have had in the back of my mind that I need to contact another friend who just got a job as an editor at a fairly big magazine. But these things are kind of delicate and I didn't just want to say -- "Hmm, haven't seen you in a couple months, but hey can we talk about what you can do for ME?" Anyway, we were e-mailing today and of her own accord she asked if I wanted to do some writing for them. Whoo hoo! We're having lunch the first week in June to discuss.

So, all in all, I'm feeling good about my prospects at getting back into magazine writing after my 2 years of just focusing on books. . .